


I can’t understand a thing (but you)

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: And Bruce, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Sensory Overload, Steph’s only in there for a bit, and the rest of the batfam is mentioned a couple of times, could be considered angst, he’s mentioned as well, i guess, like literally three words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:40:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27837718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cass tucked herself further into the corner of the room.The noises were to loud. The light to bright. Everything was just too much.She clamped her hands over her ears. They dulled the sounds but she could still hear. The crack of a falling rock hitting the ground. The plinking of a continuous drip falling down a stalactite. Her sibling’s voices from down below were getting on her nerves.OrCass gets a sensory overload and Jason’s there to help.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53





	I can’t understand a thing (but you)

Cass tucked herself further into the corner of the nook. The noises were to loud. The light to bright. Everything was just too much.

She lowered herself down to the ground and curled herself into a tuck position. If she were still with David Cain, he would not have let her do this. But, as she was not with him, she clamped her hands over her ears. 

They dulled the sounds but she could still hear. The  _crack_ of a falling rock hitting the ground. The  _plinking_ of a continuous drip falling down a stalactite. Her sibling’s  _voices_ from down below were getting on her nerves. 

Against her will, a little whimper escaped her throat. She was confused. The wall of the rock she was cramped into felt hard against her back, but the feeling was grounding. 

She tried to take deep breaths in to calm herself. She would have gone to Bruce about this, but his voice would be too loud, too much. She couldn’t even imagine trying to explain what was happening to her. She focused on her breathing. 

Another breath in, another breath out. 

In

Out

In

Ou- 

“HEY!” Steph’s voice shouted from down below. 

Cass was yanked out of her breathing routine and all of the noise came back to her. The screen of the computer seemed to shine extra bright as her eyes darted around the cave. They filled with tears at the vivid lights, but she wiped them away just as fast. 

A load roar came from down below as a vehicle she recognised as Jason’s motorcycle pulled up into the cave. She shoved her fingers into her ears at the noise. It was too  loud.

She didn’t like having her eyes shut. It cut of one of her main senses, one of the most reliable. She couldn’t assess the room just by ear or smell, just as she couldn’t with just her eyes. David, had of course trained her to function blind, but he had not trained her for this kind of situation. 

She inhaled another deep breath before she felt a touch on her arm. She flinched and her eyes sprung open to face the unseen enemy, only to find Jason’s teal ones looking back at her. 

“Hey,” he whispered softly. 

She tensed at the noise. A whole flurry of emotions fluttered through his body, but the most prominent one was understanding. 

“I think you’re having a sensory overload.” 

She didn’t know what that was. The words ran through her head. Senses, she knew. Overload, she wasn’t sure. The confusion must have shown, she could tell with what Jason said next. 

“I’ll explain later, just come with me.” Jason beckoned for her to follow down the side of the cave and back to the ground, far away from where they currently were. 

He climbed down slowly, sensing her discomfort at climbing in the state she was in. When they reached the floor a couple of minutes later, Jason lead her out of the cave and up onto the library. 

He sat down on and armchair and gestured her to sit down on the one opposite. The room was only slightly light and the darkness soothed her nerves. 

Cass sat in the quiet, the only noises coming from her and Jason’s breathing, as well as the occasional scratch of a tree branch against one of the many windows. 

She felt herself slowly relax. Her hearing and sight started to return to normal.She started to calm down and she focused on keeping herself centred. 

Finally she looked up to Jason. She gave a questioning glance to him, not knowing how to ask the words he had spoken before. He cleared a his throat before speaking. 

“Um... you had a sensory overload.” 

She tilted her head. 

“It’s basically where your senses have to take in to much information because there’s so much going on around you, and you get overwhelmed by it.” 

That, she could understand. It made sense as the other bats were being particularly loud today, and just coming back from an explosive fight against Mr Freeze.

_ How did you know where I was _ , she signed. 

“I didn’t see you down in the cave, so I looked for you. I remember I hiding up there when I was Robin, so, well I checked.” 

She gave a grin and got up from the chair, darting over and giving him a hug. He slowly gave an awkward pat on the back. 

_ Can you read to me?  _

He blinked in surprise. “What do you want to read?”

Her eyes lit up and she twirled over to where her new favourite books were being kept. She plonked the pile down on Jason’s lap and he stared at them with confusion. 

“Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus? The pigeon needs a bath? Don’t let the pigeon stay up late?  _ The duckling gets a cookie?! _ ” He stressed. 

She smirked and nodded. 

“ _ Cass _ ,” he whined dragging out the syllable. “Can’t you pick something a little more . . . advanced? I’m know you could read these on your own! I saw you reading the magic of the faraway tree just the other day.”

Cass smiles. She had liked those books. But she like these ones even better. They were funny and talked as if you were really in the book. She gave the pile of books a pat before hopping onto the chair and squirmed to squish between him and the arm. He gave a grunt as she shoved his side. 

“You little shit.” 

She gave him an innocent look. She could se he truly didn’t mind reading them to her. He sighed, opened the first and started reading. Cass slowly leaned into her big brother’s side and let herself relax.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do something with Cass and this is where my mind went. I like the idea of her getting sensory overloads. I then decided why not add Jason in too? Also I know that Cass is sometimes older than Jason (she might actually be idk), but for the sake of this fic let’s pretend that she’s younger. It’s kinda short but oh well it turned out nice.
> 
> Also, send in prompts or requests! I can get ideas from pretty much anything. 
> 
> Come talk to me on my tumblr!  
> https://thesporklecat.tumblr.com/


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